Microsoft done making HD DVD Players
February 25, 2008
On the 24th of February, the computer giant Microsoft announced that it is going to stop making HD DVD players which were used for its Xbox 360 video game system. The news comes after Toshiba Corp. abandoned the high profile video format war that was going on between them and Sony Corp.’s Blu-ray.
However, the company on Sunday also said that it will continue to provide customary warranty support for its HD DVD players. According to the estimate of the Toshiba president Atsutoshi Nishida almost 300,000 people all around world awn the Microsoft video player. This video player was usually sold as a $130 add-on for the Xbox 360.
In a written statement given last week Blair Westlake, a corporate vice president of the computer company, said that Microsoft would continue to provide its customers the same old choice to enjoy digital distribution of high definition movies and other television shows directly into their living rooms. This is along wit the playback of the DVD movies that they already own. He also said that HD DVD players were just one of the ways by which the company was trying to offer a high definition experience to all its customers. He said that by stopping the production of these players the company was not going to put its old customers in any form of hardship.
Microsoft was one of the biggest supporters of this HD DVD player. They along with Intel and the Japanese electronic maker NEC Corp. had played a big role in making the product popular among the Xbox consumers. The support of Microsoft for the format followed by the DVD Player was seen as a big credit for Toshiba’s design.
Anyhow, this popularity had gone down by a reasonable amount in the last few years as most of the important movie studios had chosen Blu-ray pictures for the distribution of high definition DVDs. Some of the major companies that chose Blu-ray ahead of the HD DVD are the Sony Pictures, Walt Disney Co., News Corp.’s Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Bros. Entertainment. This was a major blow to the HD DVD players as the movie makers were one of the biggest source of income for the player. The final and most deadly blow to the player came when the Wal-Mart Stores Inc. recently announced that they would not be selling any more HD DVD players and that it will only sell Blu-ray players and discs.
Microsoft let it be known that it is now considering how it can use the technology it created for the HD players for other platforms too. They say that the technologies like HDi and VC-1 will be helpful in adding interactive features to other platforms. The company however said that the choice to put a halt to the selling of HD DVD players is not going to create a he impact on the video game business. The outcome of the move is that Blu-ray is going to find its way ahead very easy indeed.
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